Image forming apparatus supporting peer to peer connection and method of performing image forming operation thereof

ABSTRACT

A method of performing an image forming operation in an image forming apparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection includes P2P connecting the image forming apparatus to an external wireless device while the image forming apparatus is wirelessly connected to an access point (AP) of an infrastructured network, receiving a discovery packet from the wireless device via a P2P interface, transmitting to the wireless device a response packet including an Internet protocol (IP) address of the P2P interface, receiving from the wireless device an image forming operation performing request having the IP address of the P2P interface as a destination, and performing the requested image forming operation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 from U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/569,391, filed on Dec. 12, 2011,in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present general inventive concept relates to an image formingapparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection, and moreparticularly, to a method of performing an image forming operationrequested by a wireless device P2P connected to an image formingapparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, peer to peer (P2P) communication technology, by which wirelessdevices may be directly connected to each other without an additionalwireless connecting apparatus, have become generalized and widely used.For example, Bluetooth technology makes the P2P communication possible.Although there are limitations in terms of transmission speed andtransmission range of Bluetooth, new versions of Bluetooth are beingdeveloped to compensate for the limitations.

In addition, Wi-Fi, which is a wireless local area network (WLAN)standard based on IEEE 802.11 regulated by the Wi-Fi alliance, isbasically a technology using ultra-high speed Internet by accessingaccess points (APs) connected to an infrastructured network. The Wi-Fimay serve the P2P communication by using an ad-hoc function. An ad hocnetwork typically refers to any set of networks where all devices haveequal status on a network and are free to associate with any other adhoc network devices in link range. Very often, ad hoc network refers toa mode of operation of IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. However, when thead-hoc function is used, security is weakened, a transmission speed islowered, a setting method is not easily performed, and transmissionrange is limited to a maximum of 20 meters. Therefore, the Wi-Fialliance has suggested a Wi-Fi Direct technology that makes the P2Pcommunication possible. The Wi-Fi Direct allows P2P connection betweenwireless devices without using the AP, supports a transmission speed ofa maximum of 250 Mbps, and performs security settings by using Wi-Fiprotected access 2 (WPA2), in order to address problems of the ad-hocfunction. In addition, the Wi-Fi Direct supports a transmission range ofa maximum of 200 meters, and thus, is considered as a substitute for theP2P communication.

As described above, with the appearance of the Wi-Fi Direct, it isconsidered that utilization of the P2P communication is increased more.In addition, the P2P communication technology may be also applied toimage forming apparatuses such as printers, scanners, facsimiles, andmulti-function printers. Therefore, technologies for safely andconveniently using image forming apparatuses supporting the P2Pconnection are necessary.

SUMMARY

The present general inventive concept provides an image formingapparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection and a method ofperforming an image forming operation requested by a wireless device P2Pconnected to an image forming apparatus.

Additional features and utilities of the present general inventiveconcept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and,in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned bypractice of the general inventive concept.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present generalinventive concept may be achieved by providing a method of performing animage forming operation in an image forming apparatus supporting peer topeer (P2P) connection, the method including P2P connecting the imageforming apparatus to an external wireless device while the image formingapparatus is wirelessly connected to an access point (AP) of aninfrastructured network, receiving a discovery packet from the wirelessdevice via a P2P interface, transmitting to the wireless device aresponse packet including an Internet protocol (IP) address of the P2Pinterface, receiving from the wireless device an image forming operationperforming request having the IP address of the P2P interface as adestination, and performing the requested image forming operation.

The receiving of the discovery packet may include receiving via the P2Pinterface the discovery packet transmitted from the wireless device byusing a multicast or broadcast method.

The transmitting of the response packet may include transmitting theresponse packet further comprising information on services providable bythe image forming apparatus.

The P2P connection may be Wi-Fi Direct connection, and the P2Pconnecting of the image forming apparatus may include P2P connecting theimage forming apparatus to operate the image forming apparatus as agroup owner (GO) and to operate the wireless device as a client.

The receiving of the discovery packet may be performed by using any oneprotocol from among bonjour, universal plug & play (UPNP), web serverdirector (WSD), service location protocol (SLP), and simple networkmanagement protocol (SNMP).

If the image forming operation is a print operation, the receiving ofthe image forming operation performing request may include receivingfrom the wireless device print data having the IP address of the P2Pinterface as a destination, and wherein the performing of the imageforming operation may include performing a print operation according tothe print data.

If the image forming operation is a scan operation, the receiving of theimage forming operation performing request may include receiving fromthe wireless device a scan request having the IP address of the P2Pinterface as a destination, and wherein the performing of the imageforming operation may include scanning document and transmitting scanimage data to the wireless device.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present generalinventive concept may also be achieved by providing a non-transitorycomputer readable recording medium having recorded thereoncomputer-readable codes to execute a method of performing an imageforming operation in an image forming apparatus supporting peer to peer(P2P) connection, the method including P2P connecting the image formingapparatus to an external wireless device while the image formingapparatus is wirelessly connected to an access point (AP) of aninfrastructured network, receiving a discovery packet from the wirelessdevice via a P2P interface, transmitting to the wireless device aresponse packet comprising an Internet protocol (IP) address of the P2Pinterface, receiving from the wireless device an image forming operationperforming request having the IP address of the P2P interface as adestination, and performing the requested image forming operation.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present generalinventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image formingapparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection, the image formingapparatus including a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface unitto wirelessly connect the image forming apparatus to an infrastructurednetwork and to P2P connect the image forming apparatus to an externalwireless device, an Internet protocol (IP) address management unit tomanage an IP address of a P2P interface and an IP address of aninfrastructured network interface, a control unit to receive an IPaddress from the IP address management unit and to control performing ofan image forming operation requested by the wireless device, and animage forming operation performing unit to perform the requested imageforming operation under control of the control unit, wherein, if adiscovery packet is received from the wireless device via the P2Pinterface, the control unit generates and transmits a response packetincluding the IP address of the P2P interface to the wireless device,and wherein, if an image forming operation performing request isreceived from the wireless device via the P2P interface, the controlunit controls the image forming operation performing unit to perform therequested image forming operation.

The WLAN interface unit may receive via the P2P interface the discoverypacket transmitted from the wireless device by using a multicast orbroadcast method.

The control unit may generate the response packet to further includeinformation on services providable by the image forming apparatus.

The P2P connection may be Wi-Fi Direct connection, and the WLANinterface unit P2P may connect the image forming apparatus to operatethe image forming apparatus as a group owner (GO) and to operate thewireless device as a client.

The WLAN interface unit may receive the discovery packet from thewireless device by using any one protocol from among bonjour, universalplug & play (UPNP), web server director (WSD), service location protocol(SLP), and simple network management protocol (SNMP).

If the image forming operation is a print operation, the control unitmay control the image forming operation performing unit to perform aprint operation according to the received print data if print datahaving the IP address of the P2P interface as a destination is receivedfrom the wireless device.

If the image forming operation is a scan operation, the control unit maycontrol the image forming operation performing unit to scan document andtransmits scan image data to the wireless device if a scan requesthaving the IP address of the P2P interface as a destination is receivedfrom the wireless device.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present generalinventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image formingapparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection, the image formingapparatus including a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface unitto concurrently establish an infrastructure network connection and a P2Pconnection with an external wireless device, a central processing unit(CPU) to provide an Internet protocol (IP) address of a P2P interfacecorresponding to the P2P connection to the external wireless device inresponse to an image forming operation requested by the externalwireless device if the external wireless device is P2P connected to theimage forming apparatus, and an image forming operation performing unitto perform the requested image forming operation based on print datareceived from the external wireless device if the print data includesthe IP address of the P2P interface.

The CPU may include an IP address management unit to manage the IPaddress of the P2P interface and an IP address of an infrastructurednetwork interface corresponding to the infrastructure networkconnection, and a control unit to receive the IP address of the P2Pinterface from the IP address management unit based on the image formingoperation requested by the external wireless device and to controlperformance of the requested image forming operation.

The CPU may send a response packet including the IP address of the P2Pinterface in response to receiving a discovery packet from the externalwireless device, and the CPU may control the image forming operationperforming unit to perform the requested image forming operation basedon at least one of a plurality of image forming operations provided inthe response packet.

The at least one of a plurality of image forming operations may includeprinting, copying, faxing, and scanning.

The receipt of the discovery packet may prompt the image formingapparatus that the external wireless device is within P2P connectionrange and is requesting information regarding the plurality of imageforming operations provided by the image forming apparatus.

The P2P connection may be a Wi-Fi Direct connection.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present generalinventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image formingapparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection, the image formingapparatus including a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface unitto concurrently establish a plurality of different wireless connections,a central processing unit (CPU) to provide an Internet protocol (IP)address corresponding to one of the wireless connections to an externalwireless device if the external wireless device is connected to theimage forming apparatus by one of the wireless connections, and an imageforming operation performing unit to perform the requested image formingoperation based on print data received from the external wireless deviceif the print data includes the IP address corresponding to the one ofthe wireless connections.

The plurality of different wireless connections may include aninfrastructure network connection and a P2P connection.

The image forming apparatus may establish the infrastructure networkconnection by at least one of wirelessly connecting the image formingapparatus to an external access point (AP) and determining the imageforming apparatus to be an AP.

The WLAN interface unit may determine the image forming apparatus to bethe AP by determining the image forming apparatus to be a group owner(GO) from among a plurality of Wi-Fi Direct connected external wirelessdevices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other features and utilities of the present generalinventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated fromthe following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating devices supporting Wi-Fi Direct andlegacy wireless local area network (WLAN) devices that are wirelesslyconnected to each other to form a wireless network, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating processes of wirelessly connecting thedevices supporting the Wi-Fi Direct to each other, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of displaying a list ofWi-Fi Direct devices that are found after a device discovery processperformed by a device supporting the Wi-Fi Direct, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a group formation process in theprocesses of connecting the Wi-Fi Direct supporting devices to eachother, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present generalinventive concept;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display screen to execute a Wi-Fiprotected setup (WPS), according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent general inventive concept;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a list of devices supporting Wi-FiDirect, information of which is stored according to a profile storingfunction, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present generalinventive concept;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating Wi-Fi Direct supporting devices thatare simultaneously connected to each other, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a basic hardware configuration ofa multi-function printer (MFP) supporting Wi-Fi Direct, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a basic software configuration ofan MFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present general inventive concept;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration of anMFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent general inventive concept;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an MFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIGS. 12, 13A, and 13B are flowcharts describing a method of activatingWi-Fi Direct in an MFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an MFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, accordingto another exemplary embodiment of the present general inventiveconcept;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart describing a method of performing an imageforming operation in an MFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration of anMFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent general inventive concept;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an MFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, accordingto another exemplary embodiment of the present general inventiveconcept;

FIGS. 18 through 23 are flowcharts describing a method of managingchannels in an MFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of an MFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, accordingto another exemplary embodiment of the present general inventiveconcept; and

FIGS. 25 through 27 are flowcharts describing a method of switchingoperation modes in an MFP supporting Wi-Fi Direct, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentgeneral inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the likeelements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order toexplain the present general inventive concept while referring to thefigures.

Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list ofelements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify theindividual elements of the list.

Hereinafter, a multi-function printer (MFP) supporting Wi-Fi Direct willbe described as an example of an image forming apparatus supportingpeer-to-peer (P2P) connection. However, the scope of the present generalinventive concept to be protected is not limited thereto, but is definedby descriptions of claims.

Before describing embodiments of the present general inventive concept,basic connections and operations of an MFP supporting the Wi-Fi Directwill be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating wireless local area network (WLAN)devices supporting Wi-Fi Direct and a legacy WLAN device connecting toeach other to form a wireless network, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referring to FIG.1, an MFP 110 supporting the Wi-Fi Direct is wirelessly connected to asmartphone 120 supporting the Wi-Fi Direct, a laptop computer 130supporting the Wi-Fi Direct, and a legacy WLAN laptop computer 140.Here, the legacy WLAN laptop computer 140 includes a conventional laptopcomputer that adopts a WLAN technology and does not support the Wi-FiDirect.

The WLAN device supporting the Wi-Fi Direct (hereinafter, referred to as“Wi-Fi Direct device”) may perform P2P connection without using aninfrastructured network, unlike conventional devices supporting Wi-Fi.In more detail, according to the conventional Wi-Fi technology, a Wi-Fidevice is wirelessly connected to an external router, that is, an accesspoint (AP), and is connected to an infrastructured network that isconfigured in advance in order to form a wireless network. As such, theWi-Fi devices, which are wirelessly connected to the AP, function asstations. However, according to Wi-Fi Direct technology, one of theWi-Fi Direct devices that are to form the wireless network operates asan AP, and the other Wi-Fi Direct devices are wirelessly connected tothe Wi-Fi Direct device that operates as the AP to operate as stations.Therefore, the wireless network may be formed between the Wi-Fi directdevices without the AP connected to the infrastructured network. Inaddition, when the wireless network is formed between the Wi-Fi directdevices, any legacy WLAN devices, such as the Wi-Fi devices or thelegacy WLAN laptop computer 140, may recognize the Wi-Fi direct devicethat operates as the AP to be a compatible AP, and may be wirelesslyconnected to the Wi-Fi Direct device.

Referring to FIG. 1, the Wi-Fi Direct MFP 110, the Wi-Fi Directsmartphone 120, and the Wi-Fi Direct laptop computer 130, which are theWi-Fi direct devices, form a wireless network without an external APconnected to the infrastructured network. As described above, the Wi-Fidirect devices may be wirelessly connected to each other to form a P2Pgroup without an external AP connected to the infrastructured network.Here, the Wi-Fi Direct MFP 110 operates as the AP, and the deviceoperating as the AP among the Wi-Fi direct devices is referred to as agroup owner (GO) of a P2P group. In addition, the Wi-Fi smartphone 120and the Wi-Fi Direct laptop computer 130 are wirelessly connected to theGO, that is, the Wi-Fi Direct MFP 110, to operate as the stations, whichare referred to as “clients.” Furthermore, the legacy WLAN laptopcomputer 140 that does not support the Wi-Fi Direct also recognizes theGO, that is, the Wi-Fi Direct MFP 110, as the AP, and is wirelesslyconnected to the GO to be connected to the wireless network formed bythe Wi-Fi direct devices.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the Wi-Fi Direct MFP 110 operates as the GO,but any one of the other Wi-Fi direct devices, that is, the smartphone120 and the laptop computer 130, may also operate as the GO, and the MFP110 may operate as the client. Determination of which of the Wi-Fidirect devices is to become the GO is performed by a negotiation processthat takes place during Wi-Fi direct connection processes, which will bedescribed in detail later. Additionally, the Wi-Fi direct device may bedetermined to be the GO by itself before the connection without anynegotiation, and the Wi-Fi direct device may be referred to as anautonomous group owner (AGO). In addition, a wireless network formedbased on the AGO is referred to as an autonomous P2P group. When theautonomous P2P group is formed, the legacy WLAN device may recognize theAGO as an AP connected to the infrastructured network and may beconnected to the AGO.

Although FIG. 1 illustrates an example in which the Wi-Fi direct devicesform the P2P group without the external AP connected to theinfrastructured network, the Wi-Fi direct devices may operate as thestations by connecting to the AP, if the AP is connected to theinfrastructured network.

Hereinafter, wireless connecting processes between the Wi-Fi directdevices and characteristics of the Wi-Fi Direct technology will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. For convenienceof description, an MFP supporting the Wi-Fi Direct (hereinafter,referred to as “Wi-Fi Direct MFP”) will be described as an example, butthe scope of the present general inventive concept is not limitedthereto. As such, exemplary embodiments of the present general inventiveconcept may also be applied to printers, scanners, facsimiles, or othertypes of devices supporting the Wi-Fi Direct. In addition, the Wi-FiDirect is used as an example of the P2P communication method, but otherkinds of P2P communication, such as Bluetooth and Zigbee, for example,may also be used within the applicable range of the present generalinventive concept.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating processes of wirelessly connectingWi-Fi Direct devices to each other, according to an exemplary embodimentof the present general inventive concept. In more detail, processes ofWi-Fi Direct connection between a Wi-Fi Direct MFP 210 and a Wi-FiDirect laptop computer 220 are illustrated. The Wi-Fi Direct connectingprocesses may be divided as a device discovery process, a groupformation process, and a secure connection process. Referring to FIG. 2,the Wi-Fi Direct MFP 210 receives a request to perform device discoveryfrom a user (201), and as a result searches to find a Wi-Fi Directdevice that is within a detectable range of the Wi-Fi Direct MFP 210(202). The device discovery request may be input through a userinterface of the MFP 210, for example, a user interface displays on adisplay unit such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) formed on the MFP210. If it is determined as a result of searching that there is a Wi-FiDirect device within the detectable range of the MFP 210, the MFP 210displays the searched device through the display unit and receives aconnection request 203 from the user. The connection request 203 may bealso input by the user through the display unit of the MFP 210. Morespecifically, the user may push buttons or a touch panel of the displayunit. If there are a plurality of Wi-Fi Direct devices within thedetectable range of the MFP 210, the MFP 210 displays a list of thesearched Wi-Fi direct devices on the display unit so that the user mayselect one of the Wi-Fi direct devices and request the connection to theselected Wi-Fi direct device.

After receiving the connection request 203, a group formation isperformed between the Wi-Fi Direct devices to be connected (204). Thegroup formation process determines the Wi-Fi Direct devices to beconnected to each other and determines which of the Wi-Fi direct devicesare to be the clients within the group, and which one of the Wi-Fidirect devices is to be the GO. The Wi-Fi Direct device to be the GO isdetermined through the negotiation between the Wi-Fi Direct devices, andthe negotiation will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

When the group is formed, the devices included in the group are to besecurely connected to each other by using a Wi-Fi protected setup (WPS)technology. The WPS includes a function of performing simple secureconnection between the Wi-Fi supporting devices. The WPS may beclassified as a personal identification number (PIN) type WPS and a pushbutton configuration (PBC) type WPS. The PIN type WPS sets the secureconnection by inputting a PIN code that is set in advance, and the PBCtype WPS sets the secure connection by pushing a WPS button that isprovided on the Wi-Fi Direct device.

Hereinafter, the PBC type WPS will be described as an example. The userpushes a WPS button provided on the MFP 210 to request the secureconnection (205). In addition, within a predetermined period of time(e.g., 120 seconds), the secure connection may be achieved by pushing aWPS button formed on the laptop computer 220, or a virtual WPS buttondisplayed on the laptop computer 220 via an application program toperform the Wi-Fi Direct connection. The WPS button displayed on thelaptop computer 220 via the application program to perform the Wi-FiDirect connection in may be an object or any other type of virtualtoggle, switch, checkbox, etc., which is displayed on a display unit ofthe laptop computer 220 by the application program to perform the Wi-FiDirect connection. An example of the WPS button is represented as a pushbutton 510, as illustrated in FIG. 5. The user clicks may click WPSbutton represented on the display unit of the laptop computer 220 byusing a mouse, for example, to request the secure connection. When thesecurity connection is requested by pushing the WPS button, the devicethat is determined to be the GO in the group formation process transmitssecurity information to devices that are determined to be the clients(206). According to the Wi-Fi Direct, the secure connection is executedafter encrypting in a Wi-Fi protected access 2 (WPA2)-pre-shared key(PSK) method, and thus, the Wi-Fi Direct may have a higher securityfunction than that of a conventional wired equivalent privacy (WEP) orWi-Fi protected access (WAP) method.

When the WPS is executed, the Wi-Fi direct device that is the client isconnected to the Wi-Fi direct device that is the GO (207). At this time,the Wi-Fi Direct device that is the GO automatically allocates anInternet protocol (IP) address to the Wi-Fi direct device that is theclient by using a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server(208), and then, the P2P connection between the Wi-Fi Direct devices iscompleted.

Basic processes to connect the Wi-Fi direct devices have been described,and detailed processes and characteristics of the Wi-Fi Directtechnology will be described below with reference to the accompanyingdrawings as follows.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of displaying a list of theWi-Fi Direct devices that are searched during the device discoveryprocess performed by the Wi-Fi Direct device, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present general inventive concept. When the devicediscovery process is performed by the Wi-Fi direct device, deviceinformation 310, such as a type of the device and a service setidentifier (SSID) of the device, is exchanged between the devicesthrough a probe request and a probe response that are WLAN packets, andthe Wi-Fi direct device that performs the device discovery processdisplays the collected information. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the SSIDsand the types of the searched Wi-Fi Direct devices are represented astext or icons as device icons 320. Here, all of the searched devices maybe represented in the list. However, the devices may be filtered so thatthe devices of only a particular type may be displayed in the list.According to the Wi-Fi Direct technology, the Wi-Fi direct devices aredefined in category units. The Wi-Fi Direct devices may be classified ascategories, for example, computers, input devices, printers, scanners,facsimiles, copying machines, and cameras, but are not limited thereto,and each of the categories may be divided into sub-categories. Forexample, the computer may be classified as personal computers (PCs),servers, laptop computers, etc., but is not limited thereto.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the group formation process in detailamong the connecting processes between the Wi-Fi Direct devices,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventiveconcept. The group formation process is a process of determining whichof the Wi-Fi Direct devices are to form a network, which one of theWi-Fi Direct devices is to be the GO, and which of the remaining Wi-FiDirect devices are to be the clients. For example, when the Wi-Fi directMFP 410 performs the device discovery and selects a laptop computer 420from among the discovered Wi-Fi Direct devices to be connected, the MFP410 transmits a GO negotiation request to the laptop computer 420 (401).The laptop computer 420 receiving the GO negotiation request compares anintent value thereof with an intent value of the MFP 410, and then,determines the MFP 410 to be the GO when the intent value of the MFP 410is greater than that of the laptop computer 420. Likewise, the laptopcomputer 420 is determined to be the GO when the intent value of thelaptop computer 420 is greater than the intent value of the MFP 410. Theintent value may include a value representing a degree of task intent ineach device, and may be determined by manufacturer policy, usersettings, etc., but is not limited thereto. The intent value of thedevice, which is supplied power always, may be set to be relativelyhigh. As described above, after determining the Wi-Fi Direct device tobe the GO by comparing the intent values, the laptop computer 420transmits the determination result to the MFP 410 as a response to theGO negotiation (402). The MFP 410, which receives the determinationresult from the laptop computer 420, transmits an acknowledgement to thelaptop computer 420 (403) in order to verify the receipt of thenegotiation, and then, the group formation process is finished. When thegroup formation is completed, the Wi-Fi Direct device that is determinedto be the GO manages security information and SSIDs of the other Wi-FiDirect devices included in the group.

When the group is formed, the Wi-Fi Direct devices included in the groupare securely connected to each other through the WPS. FIG. 5 is adiagram illustrating a display screen 500 to execute the WPS, accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Thedisplay screen of FIG. 5 may be displayed on a display unit of the Wi-FiDirect MFP. Referring to FIG. 5, the user may select one of a WPS button510 and a PIN code 520 to execute the WPS. When the WPS is executedthrough the WPS button 510, the WPS button 510 of the Wi-Fi Direct MFPis pushed and WPS buttons of other devices are pushed within apredetermined period of time, and then, security information isexchanged between the devices automatically and the secure connection iscompleted. Here, the Wi-Fi Direct device that is the GO providessecurity information to the Wi-Fi direct devices that are the clients.In addition, the secure connection is performed after encrypting in theWPA2-PSK verification method, and thus, high security may be achieved.

The Wi-Fi Direct devices each have a profile storage function to storeinformation of the Wi-Fi Direct devices that have been previouslyconnected thereto. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display screen 600including a list of the Wi-Fi Direct devices, information of which isstored according to the profile storage function, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept. The listof FIG. 6 is a screen displayed on the display unit of the Wi-Fi DirectMFP. Information of a first list 610 denotes a Wi-Fi Direct devicecurrently connected to the Wi-Fi Direct MFP, information of secondthrough fourth lists 620-640 include Wi-Fi Direct devices that are notcurrently connected to the Wi-Fi Direct MFP, but are included in adevice discovery range of the Wi-Fi Direct MFP, and information of afifth list 650 denotes a Wi-Fi Direct device that has been previouslyconnected to the Wi-Fi Direct device, although it is not discoveredcurrently. If the information of the fifth list 650 is not necessary,the user may delete the fifth list 650 by pushing (e.g., clicking on) aremove button 651. Since the Wi-Fi direct device has the profile storagefunction as described above, the Wi-Fi Direct device stores informationof the other Wi-Fi Direct devices previously connected thereto, andthen, may be connected quickly without executing the WPS by using thestored information if the same device tries to connect thereto again.

The Wi-Fi Direct device may be P2P connected to another Wi-Fi directdevice, and at the same time, may be connected to the infrastructurednetwork, which is referred to as a concurrent connection. FIG. 7 is adiagram illustrating the Wi-Fi Direct devices that are in the concurrentconnection states, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentgeneral inventive concept. Referring to FIG. 7, the Wi-Fi direct MFP 720is P2P connected to a smartphone 710 that is another Wi-Fi directdevice, and at the same time, the Wi-Fi Direct MFP 720 is also connectedto an AP 730 of the infrastructured network. The Wi-Fi Direct MFP 720may directly transmit and/or receive print data to and/or from thesmartphone 710, and at the same time, may directly transmit and/orreceive print data to and/or from the infrastructured network throughthe AP 730 of the infrastructured network.

When the Wi-Fi direct device is concurrently connected to the Wi-FiDirect device and the infrastructured network as illustrated in FIG. 7,or when the Wi-Fi Direct device is wired connected to theinfrastructured network and P2P connected to another Wi-Fi directdevice, different IP addresses and MAC addresses with respect to thedifferent types of connections, that is, the connection to theinfrastructured network and the connection to the another Wi-Fi Directdevice, may be used. Through a multi-homing technology, the Wi-Fi Directdevice may provide the devices with different services from each other.For example, the Wi-Fi Direct MFP may provide services of all functionsof the MFP through an interface connected to the infrastructurednetwork, and the Wi-Fi Direct MFP may also provide services of partialfunctions of the MFP through an interface connected to another Wi-FiDirect device.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a basic hardware configuration ofa Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentgeneral inventive concept. Referring to FIG. 8, the Wi-Fi Direct MFP mayinclude a WLAN interface unit 810, an Ethernet interface unit 820, acentral processing unit (CPU) 830, a memory unit 840, a user interfaceunit 850, a scanner module 860, a fax module 870, and a print engine880. In addition, the memory unit 840 may include a random access memory(RAM) 842 and a read only memory (ROM) 844. If the MFP only supports theWLAN, the MFP may not include the Ethernet interface unit 820. Inaddition, if the device is a printer, rather than the MFP, the scannermodule 860 and the fax module 870 are not necessary.

The WLAN interface unit 810 is hardware to perform an IEEE 802.11b/g/nfunction, and may communicate with a main board, on which the CPU 830 ismounted, of the MFP via a universal serial bus (USB). The Ethernetinterface unit 820 is hardware to perform wired Ethernet communicationaccording to IEEE 802.3. The CPU 830 controls overall operations of theMFP The memory unit 840 stores information that controls the MFP and theprint data that is to be read. The user interface unit 850 functions asa medium to allow the user to identify information of the MFP and toinput commands into the MFP. The user interface unit 850 may bevariously modified according to products, for example, may be configuredas two or four lines displayed on a display unit such as an LCD or alight emitting diode (LED), or may be a graphic user interface (GUI) soas to represent various graphics. The scanner module 860, the fax module870, and the print engine 880 are hardware to perform functions of ascanner, a facsimile, and a printer.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a basic software configuration ofa Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentgeneral inventive concept. The software configuration of the Wi-FiDirect MFP is as described below.

A WLAN dongle firmware 901 is a firmware to connect the WLAN, and may bestored in WLAN dongle hardware or may be transmitted to the WLAN donglehardware from a main board of the MFP when booting the MFP. A bus driver902 and a station (STA) host driver 903 are low level bus drivers tocommunicate with the WLAN hardware. A WLAN control channel 904 and aWLAN data channel 905 are channels to communicate with the WLANfirmware. Ethernet 906 is a networking standard to perform communicationof data. A Wi-Fi Direct module 907 performs the Wi-Fi Direct connectionand transmits an operating command to the WLAN firmware. An IEEE 802.11ugeneric advertisement service (GAS) module 908 performs functionsaccording to IEEE 802.11u GAS, a CxAPI 909 is an application programinterface to perform digital transmission of voice, video, data, andother network services over the traditional circuits of the publicswitched telephone network, and a WPS module 910 performs a WPSfunction. A soft AP module 911 is a software module allowing the MFP toperform as the AP. A transmission control protocol (TCP)/IP 913 is astandard protocol to perform network transmission. A Wi-Fi Directconnection manager 912 is a module to control the Wi-Fi Directconnection. A Wi-Fi Direct user interface 915 allows the user to performsettings related to the Wi-Fi Direct, and may be included in a userinterface 914 that is installed in an embedded web server (EWS). Adynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server 916 automaticallyallocates an IP to the Wi-Fi Direct device that is connected as aclient. A network application program 917 performs various applicationoperations relating to the network.

The above-described Wi-Fi Direct technology has the following featuresand utilities.

The Wi-Fi Direct device may be connected to other devices whenever andwherever a user desires, and thus, has maximum mobility and portability.If a new Wi-Fi Direct device is added, the Wi-Fi Direct device may bedirectly connected to the new Wi-Fi direct device. In addition, it maybe identified whether there is an available device or service beforesetting the connection to other devices, and thus, the Wi-Fi directdevices may be conveniently used. In addition, the connection may beperformed simply and stably by a simple operation, for example, bypushing a WPS button, and the connection may be performed with highsecurity functions by using the WPA2 technology.

In addition, the Wi-Fi Direct technology may provide various functionsthat may not be provided by the conventional WLAN technology.

For example, the Wi-Fi Direct technology may provide the devicediscovery function to search to find peripheral Wi-Fi Direct devices bythe device type unit, the service discovery function that may search tofind services provided by the peripheral Wi-Fi Direct devices, a powermanagement function that may effectively and efficiently use electricpower, the concurrent connection function that may form the P2Pconnection between the Wi-Fi Direct devices while connecting to theconventional infrastructured network, a function of separating asecurity domain between the infrastructured network connection and theWi-Fi Direct connection, and a cross connection function to share anInternet connection.

In addition, since the Wi-Fi Direct technology is based on theconventional WLAN technology, that is, IEEE 802.11, the Wi-Fi Directdevices may be compatible with conventional legacy WLAN devices.

A method of activating Wi-Fi Direct, a method of performing an imageforming operation, a method of managing channels, and a method ofswitching WLAN modes, in a Wi-Fi Direct MFP, will now be described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As described above with reference to FIG. 7, a Wi-Fi Direct MFP supportsa concurrent connection function for allowing P2P connection to anotherWi-Fi Direct device and infrastructured network connection at the sametime. The concurrent connection function is very useful in a currentgeneral office environment where a wireless MFP is connected to an AP ofan infrastructured network and a print operation also needs to beperformed by using other wireless devices not connected to the AP.Although a wireless device not connected to an AP is connected to an MFPby using an ad-hoc function so as to use a wireless print service in aconventional case, one MFP may not be connected to an infrastructurednetwork and use an ad-hoc function at the same time.

When an MFP uses a concurrent connection function, a method ofperforming an image forming operation such as print or scan by using awireless device P2P connected via Wi-Fi Direct, a method of managing achannel used to be connected to an infrastructured network and a channelused to be connected to Wi-Fi Direct, and a method of switching a Wi-FiDirect mode and an ad-hoc mode, need to be explained in detail.

Initially, a method of activating Wi-Fi Direct to operate a Wi-Fi DirectMFP as an AGO will now be described.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration of aWi-Fi Direct MFP, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentgeneral inventive concept. In the configuration of FIG. 10, distinctivefeatures of the present embodiment are as described below.

A WLAN dongle firmware 1001 is a firmware to connect the WLAN, and maybe stored in WLAN dongle hardware or may be transmitted to the WLANdongle hardware from a main board of the MFP when booting the MFP. A busdriver 1002 and a station (STA) host driver 1003 are low level busdrivers to communicate with the WLAN hardware. A WLAN control channel1004 and a WLAN data channel 1005 are channels to communicate with theWLAN firmware. Ethernet 1006 is a networking standard to performcommunication of data. An IEEE 802.11u generic advertisement service(GAS) module 1008 performs functions according to IEEE 802.11u GAS, aCxAPI 1009 is an application program interface to perform digitaltransmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over thetraditional circuits of the public switched telephone network, and a WPSmodule 1010 performs a WPS function. A soft AP module 1011 is a softwaremodule allowing the MFP to perform as the AP. A transmission controlprotocol (TCP)/IP 1013 is a standard protocol to perform networktransmission. A WLAN user interface 1015 a and a Wi-Fi Direct userinterface 1015 b allow the user to perform settings related to the WLANand Wi-Fi Direct, respectively, and may be included in a user interface1014 that is installed in an embedded web server (EWS). A dynamic hostconfiguration protocol (DHCP) server 1016 automatically allocates an IPto the Wi-Fi Direct device that is connected as a client. A networkapplication program 1017 performs various application operationsrelating to the network. An AGO manager 1012 b included in a Wi-FiDirect connection manager 1012 a allows the Wi-Fi Direct MFP to operateas an AGO. Also, a GO service set identifier (SSID) and pre-shared key(PSK) generation module 1007 a included in a Wi-Fi Direct module 1007generates an SSID and a PSK required when the Wi-Fi Direct MFP operatesas an AGO. The IEEE 802.11u generic advertisement service (GAS) module1008, the CxAPI 1009, the WPS module 1010, the soft AP module 1011, andthe Wi-Fi Direct library 1007 may all be provided within a WLAN library1018.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referringto FIG. 11, the CPU 830 of FIG. 8 may include a WLAN connectionmanagement unit 831, a Wi-Fi Direct connection management unit 832, anAGO management unit 833, and a Wi-Fi Direct library unit 834. If a Wi-FiDirect initialization command is received from a user via the userinterface unit 850, or from the WLAN connection management unit 831, theWi-Fi Direct connection management unit 832 sets a GO flag to be turned“on.” The AGO management unit 833 checks the GO flag, and activatesWi-Fi Direct to operate the MFP as a GO if the GO flag is in an “on”state. The Wi-Fi Direct library unit 834 generates a SSID and a PSK of aGO according to a command of the AGO management unit 833.

FIGS. 12, 13A, and 13B are flowcharts illustrating a method ofactivating Wi-Fi Direct in a Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present general inventive concept. The method ofactivating the Wi-Fi Direct will now be described in detail withreference to FIGS. 11 through 13B.

Referring to FIG. 12, an initialization command is received in operationS1201. As such, the initialization command refers to a Wi-Fi Directinitialization command and includes an MFP initialization command thatcauses initialization of Wi-Fi Direct. The initialization command may beinput directly from a user via the user interface unit 850, or may betransmitted from the WLAN connection management unit 831. If theinitialization command is received, the Wi-Fi Direct connectionmanagement unit 832 sets a GO flag to be turned “on” in operation S1203.The GO flag is an indicator to indicate whether to activate the Wi-FiDirect to operate the MFP as a GO, and is set to be turned “on” to allowthe MFP to operate as a GO or is set to be turned “off” to allow the MFPnot to operate as a GO. In the current embodiment, by automaticallysetting the GO flag to be in an “on” state if the initialization commandis received, the MFP may operate as an AGO without being connected toanother Wi-Fi Direct device. Then, it is determined in operation S1205whether the Wi-Fi Direct is turned “on.” If the Wi-Fi Direct is turned“on,” the method proceeds to operation S1207 and the AGO management unit833 checks the GO flag and, if the GO flag in an “on” state, the methodproceeds to operation S1209 to activate the Wi-Fi Direct to operate theMFP as a GO. Furthermore, when it is determined in operation S1205whether the Wi-Fi Direct is turned “on,” the turned on state of theWi-Fi Direct refers to a state in which the MFP is set to use a Wi-FiDirect function.

Referring to FIG. 13A, if an initialization command is received inoperation S1301, a GO flag is set to be turned “on” in operation S1303,and it is determined in operation S1305 whether Wi-Fi Direct is turned“on.” The above operations are the same as those illustrated in FIG. 12.If it is determined that the Wi-Fi Direct is turned “on” in operationS1305, the Wi-Fi Direct connection management unit 832 determines inoperation 1307 whether a Wi-Fi Direct library is initialized. If it isdetermined that the Wi-Fi Direct library is initialized, the methodproceeds to operation S1309, as illustrated in FIG. 13B, and the AGOmanagement unit 833 determines whether a GO flag is in an “on” state. Ifit is determined that the Wi-Fi Direct library is not initialized, theWi-Fi Direct library is initialized in S1308 and the method proceeds tooperation S1309, as illustrated in FIG. 13B. Referring to FIG. 13B, ifit is determined in operation S1309 that the GO flag is in an “on”state, the method proceeds to operation S1311 to determine whether theWi-Fi Direct is connected. If it is determined in operation S1309 thatthe GO flag is in an “off” state, Wi-Fi Direct device discovery isperformed in operation S1310 and the method proceeds to operation S1319to update a Wi-Fi Direct state. If it is determined in operation S1311that the Wi-Fi Direct is connected, the method also proceeds tooperation S1319 to update the Wi-Fi Direct state. In contrast, if it isdetermined in operation S1311 that the Wi-Fi Direct is not connected,the method proceeds to operation S1313 to determine whether a Wi-FiDirect device discovery mode is turned “on.” If the Wi-Fi Direct devicediscovery mode is not turned “on,” the method proceeds to operationS1315. However, if the Wi-Fi Direct device discovery mode is turned“on,” the Wi-Fi Direct device discovery mode is stopped in operationS1314 and the method proceeds to operation S1315. If an SSID, a PSK, anda GO credential to operate the MFP as a GO are generated in operationS1315, the Wi-Fi Direct is activated to drive a soft AP and to operatethe MFP as a GO in operation S1317, and the Wi-Fi Direct state isupdated in operation S1319.

As described above, by allowing an MFP is allowed to operate as an AGOif Wi-Fi Direct is activated according to a Wi-Fi Direct initializationcommand, since a Wi-Fi Direct network may be formed even when anotherWi-Fi Direct device is not connected, connection to legacy wirelessdevices not supporting the Wi-Fi Direct may be provided and the MFP, asa fixed device, may function as a GO that requires a relatively largeamount of power consumption. Also, an IP address of the MFP may befixed.

A method of performing an image forming operation in a Wi-Fi Direct MFPwill now be described in detail with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according toanother exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.Referring to FIG. 14, the CPU 830 of FIG. 8 may include an IP addressmanagement unit 835 and a control unit 836. The scanner module 860, thefax module 870, and the print engine 880 are included in an imageforming operation performing unit 1400.

The WLAN interface unit 810 allows the MFP to acheive infrastructurednetwork connection and Wi-Fi Direct connection at the same time. The IPaddress management unit 835 manages an IP address of an infrastructurednetwork interface and an IP address of a Wi-Fi Direct interface. Sincethe MFP supports a concurrent connection function as described above, ifinfrastructured network connection and Wi-Fi Direct connection areachieved at the same time according to the concurrent connectionfunction, the MFP has different IP addresses according to the respectiveinterfaces. The IP address management unit 835 checks and provides theIP address of each interface to the control unit 836. The control unit836 receives the IP address from the IP address management unit 835 andcontrols an image forming operation requested by an external wirelessdevice. In more detail, if a discovery packet is received via the Wi-FiDirect interface from a wireless device Wi-Fi Direct connected to theMFP, the control unit 836 receives the IP address of the Wi-Fi Directinterface from the IP address management unit 835, and generates andtransmits a response packet including the IP address to the wirelessdevice. The discovery packet may be sent to any apparatuses or devicesthat are Wi-Fi Direct connected and are in range of the externalwireless device. As such, the discovery packet alerts the in-range Wi-FiDirect connected apparatuses or devices that the external wirelessdevice is in range and is requesting information regarding operationsthat each of the apparatuses or devices can perform. The wireless devicemay obtain the IP address of the Wi-Fi Direct interface of the MFP byanalyzing the response packet received from the MFP. Also, the controlunit 836 may generate the response packet to further include informationon services and/or operations providable by the MFP and, in this case,the wireless device may obtain the information on the services and/oroperations providable by the MFP by analyzing the response packet.

If an image forming operation performing request having the IP addressof the Wi-Fi Direct interface as a destination is received from thewireless device Wi-Fi Direct connected to the MFP, the control unit 836may control the image forming operation performing unit 1400 to performthe requested image forming operation. For example, if print data havingthe IP address of the Wi-Fi Direct interface as a destination isreceived from the wireless device, the control unit 836 controls theprint engine 880 to perform a print operation according to the receivedprint data. Alternatively, if a scan request having the IP address ofthe Wi-Fi Direct interface as a destination is received from thewireless device, the control unit 836 instructs the scanner module 860to perform a scan operation.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method of performing an imageforming operation in a Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referring to FIG.15, Wi-Fi Direct connection to a wireless device is performed whilebeing wirelessly connected to an AP of an infrastructured network byusing a concurrent connection function, in operation S1501. The MFPreceives a discovery packet from the Wi-Fi Direct connected wirelessdevice in operation S1503. The discovery packet may be received via aWi-Fi Direct interface. If the discovery packet is received from thewireless device via the Wi-Fi Direct interface, the MFP generates andtransmits a response packet including an IP address of the Wi-Fi Directinterface to the wireless device in operation S1505. The wireless devicethat receives the response packet may obtain the IP address of the Wi-FiDirect interface of the MFP by analyzing the response packet. The MFPmay generate the response packet to further include information onprovidable services and, in this case, the wireless device may obtainthe information on services providable by the MFP by analyzing theresponse packet. If the wireless device that receives the responsepacket transmits an image forming operation performing request havingthe IP address of the Wi-Fi Direct interface as a destination, the MFPreceives the image forming operation performing request in operationS1507 and performs the requested image forming operation in operationS1509. For example, if print data having the IP address of the Wi-FiDirect interface as a destination is received in operation S1507, theMFP performs a print operation according to the received print data inoperation S1509. If a scan request having the IP address of the Wi-FiDirect interface as a destination is received in operation S1507, theMFP performs a scan operation in operation S1509.

As described above, if a response packet including an IP address of aWi-Fi Direct interface is transmitted to a wireless device Wi-Fi Directconnected to an MFP, and an image forming operation is performed when animage forming operation performing request having the IP address of theWi-Fi Direct interface as a destination is received from the wirelessdevice, the MFP may stably perform the image forming operation requestedby the Wi-Fi Direct connected wireless device while infrastructurednetwork connection and Wi-Fi Direct connection are achieved at the sametime.

A method of managing channels in a Wi-Fi Direct MFP will now bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 16is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration of a Wi-FiDirect MFP, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present generalinventive concept. In the configuration of FIG. 16, some distinctivefeatures of the current embodiment are as described below.

A WLAN dongle firmware 1601 is a firmware to connect the WLAN, and maybe stored in WLAN dongle hardware or may be transmitted to the WLANdongle hardware from a main board of the MFP when booting the MFP. A busdriver 1602 and a station (STA) host driver 1603 are low level busdrivers to communicate with the WLAN hardware. A WLAN control channel1604 and a WLAN data channel 1605 are channels to communicate with theWLAN firmware. Ethernet 1606 is a networking standard to performcommunication of data. A Wi-Fi Direct library 1607 performs the Wi-FiDirect connection and transmits an operating command to the WLANfirmware. An IEEE 802.11u generic advertisement service (GAS) module1608 performs functions according to IEEE 802.11u GAS, a CxAPI 1609 isan application program interface to perform digital transmission ofvoice, video, data, and other network services over the traditionalcircuits of the public switched telephone network, and a WPS module 1610performs a WPS function. A soft AP module 1611 is a software moduleallowing the MFP to perform as the AP. A transmission control protocol(TCP)/IP 1613 is a standard protocol to perform network transmission. AWLAN user interface 1615 a and a Wi-Fi Direct user interface 1615 ballow the user to perform settings related to the WLAN and Wi-Fi Direct,respectively, and may be included in a user interface 1614 that isinstalled in an embedded web server (EWS). A dynamic host configurationprotocol (DHCP) server 1616 automatically allocates an IP to the Wi-FiDirect device that is connected as a client. A network applicationprogram 1617 performs various application operations relating to thenetwork. A channel manager 1612 b included in a WLAN connection manager1612 manages a channel used by the MFP to be connected to an AP of aninfrastructured network, and a Wi-Fi Direct connection manager 1612 b,also included in the WLAN connection manager 1612, manages a Wi-FiDirect operation channel that is used to be connected to Wi-Fi Direct.The IEEE 802.11u generic advertisement service (GAS) module 1608, theCxAPI 1609, the WPS module 1610, the soft AP module 1611, and the Wi-FiDirect module 1607 may all be provided within a WLAN library 1618.

A method of managing the channels by the channel manager 1612 b will bedescribed below in detail with reference to FIGS. 18 through 24.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according to anotherexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referringto FIG. 17, the CPU 830 of FIG. 8 may include the WLAN connectionmanagement unit 831, the Wi-Fi Direct connection management unit 832,the Wi-Fi Direct library unit 834, and a channel management unit 837.Also, the memory unit 840 may include a channel storage unit 846. Thechannel management unit 837 receives from the WLAN connection managementunit 831 information on a channel used by the MFP to be connected to anAP of an infrastructured network, and receives from the Wi-Fi Directconnection management unit 832 information on a Wi-Fi Direct operationchannel used to be connected to Wi-Fi Direct. The channel managementunit 837 allows the channel used to be connected to the AP and the Wi-FiDirect operation channel to be the same. Also, the channel managementunit 837 stores in the channel storage unit 846 the information on thechannel used to be connected to the AP of the infrastructured networkafter receiving it. As such, when the connection to the AP of theinfrastructured network is released and the Wi-Fi Direct is activated,the stored channel may be set as the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel.This is because, due to characteristics of the MFP being mostly used asa fixed device, the channel used once to be connected to the AP of theinfrastructured network may be probably reused later. If the channelmanagement unit 837 sets the channel used to be connected to the AP andthe Wi-Fi Direct operation channel to be the same, the Wi-Fi Directconnection management unit 832 activates the Wi-Fi Direct by using theWi-Fi Direct operation channel set by using the Wi-Fi Direct libraryunit 834.

FIGS. 18 through 23 are flowcharts illustrating a method of managingchannels in a Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present general inventive concept. The method of managing channelswill now be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 18 through 23.

Referring to FIG. 18, a channel used by the MFP to be connected to an APof an infrastructured network is set as a Wi-Fi Direct operation channelin operation S1801, and Wi-Fi Direct is activated by using the setchannel in operation S1803. In this case, operation S1801 to set thechannel that is used to be connected to the AP as the Wi-Fi Directoperation channel is illustrated in FIG. 19 in detail. Referring to FIG.19, before activating the Wi-Fi Direct, it is determined in operationS1901 whether the MFP is currently connected to the AP of theinfrastructured network. If it is determined that the MFP is currentlyconnected to the AP of the infrastructured network, the method proceedsto operation S1903 to check a channel used to be connected to the AP.The checked channel is set as a Wi-Fi Direct operation channel inoperation S1905. However, if it is determined in operation S1901 thatthe MFP is not currently connected to the AP of the infrastructurednetwork, the method proceeds to operation S1907 to check whether the MFPhas been previously connected to the AP of the infrastructured network.If it is determined that the MFP has been previously connected to the APof the infrastructured network, the method proceeds to operation S1909to check a channel used to be lastly connected to the AP, and thechecked channel is set as the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel inoperation S1911. However, if it is determined in operation S1907 thatthe MFP has not been previously connected to the AP of theinfrastructured network, the method proceeds to operation S1913 toarbitrarily set the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel.

FIGS. 20 through 22 are flowcharts illustrating a method of setting theWi-Fi Direct operation channel while the MFP is connected to the AP ofthe infrastructured network. Referring to FIG. 20, the MFP is connectedto an AP of an infrastructured network in operation S2001, and a channelthat is used to be connected to the AP is checked in operation S2003.Information on the channel checked in operation S2003 is stored inoperation S2005, and then the stored channel is set as a Wi-Fi Directoperation channel in operation S2007. As such, operation S2007 to setthe stored channel as the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel is illustratedin FIGS. 21 and 22 in detail. Referring to FIG. 21, after theinformation on the checked channel is stored in operation S2005 of FIG.20, it is determined in operation S2101 whether Wi-Fi Direct iscurrently activated. If it is determined that the Wi-Fi Direct iscurrently activated, a Wi-Fi Direct operation channel is checked inoperation S2103. Then, it is determined in operation S2105 whether theWi-Fi Direct operation channel is the same as the stored channel. If itis determined that the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel is not the same asthe stored channel, a Wi-Fi Direct operation is stopped in operationS2107 and then the stored channel is set as the Wi-Fi Direct operationchannel to activate the Wi-Fi Direct in operation S2109. However, if itis determined in operation S2101 that the Wi-Fi Direct is not currentlyactivated, it is checked in operation S2102 whether a Wi-Fi Directactivation request is received. If a Wi-Fi Direct activation request isreceived, the method proceeds to operation S2109 to set the storedchannel as the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel and thus to activate theWi-Fi Direct.

As another example of operation S2007, referring to FIG. 22, after theinformation on the checked channel is stored in operation S2005 of FIG.20, the connection of the MFP to the AP of the infrastructured networkis released in operation S2201. If the MFP receives a Wi-Fi Directactivation request in operation S2203, the method proceeds to operationS2205 to set the stored channel as the Wi-Fi Direct operation channeland thus to activate the Wi-Fi Direct.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart for describing a method of setting the Wi-FiDirect operation channel while the Wi-Fi Direct of the MFP is activated.Referring to FIG. 23, the Wi-Fi Direct of the MFP is activated inoperation S2301, and the MFP is connected to the AP of theinfrastructured network while the Wi-Fi Direct is activated, inoperation S2303. The Wi-Fi Direct operation channel and the channel usedto be connected to the AP are checked in operation S2305. It isdetermined in operation S2307 whether the Wi-Fi Direct operation channelis the same as the channel used to be connected to the AP. If it isdetermined that the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel is not the same asthe channel used to be connected to the AP, the Wi-Fi Direct operationis stopped in operation S2309, and the channel that is used to beconnected to the AP is set as the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel toactivate the Wi-Fi Direct in operation S2311.

The above process will now be described in detail with reference to thesoftware configuration of FIG. 16. If the MFP is connected to an AP thatoperates in channel 6 of 2.4 GHz when a Wi-Fi Direct operation channelis channel 1 of 2.4 GHz, the channel manager 1612 b reads the channel ofthe connected AP from a wireless module via a WLAN library 1618, checksthat the read channel is different from the Wi-Fi Direct operationchannel, and informs a Wi-Fi Direct connection manager 1612 a about thedifference so as to change the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel to channel6. The Wi-Fi Direct connection manager 1612 a performs, by using theWi-Fi Direct library 1607, preprocesses to change the Wi-Fi Directoperation channel (e.g., stopping of a soft AP, changing of aninformation element, and stopping of a device discovery operation),changes the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel to channel 6, and activatesthe Wi-Fi Direct.

In general, due to data transmission using one wireless antenna, awireless MFP is structured to perform communications by using onecommunication channel. Accordingly, in a concurrent connection functionto allow infrastructured network connection and Wi-Fi Direct connectionat the same time, a problem may occur to use communication channels.When different channels are used to be connected to an infrastructurednetwork and Wi-Fi Direct, if a CPU of a wireless chipset has a highperformance, time may be divided and all packets may be processed byalternately using two channels, which causes a delay in a service ofeach channel and also causes another problem in terms of stability.However, in the above method of managing channels, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept, since asingle channel is used to perform concurrent connection, the aboveproblem may be prevented. Also, information on the channel of the AP ofthe infrastructured network may not be checked before the MFP isconnected to the AP. However, according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present general inventive concept, even when the Wi-Fi Direct isactivated first and then the MFP is connected to the AP of theinfrastructured network, since channel information of the AP is read andthen the Wi-Fi Direct operation channel is correspondingly set, a singlechannel may be used.

A method of switching operation modes in a Wi-Fi Direct MFP will now bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Typesof operation modes are described before the method of switchingoperation modes is described. WLAN modes of an MFP include an ad-hocmode and an infrastructure mode. The ad-hoc mode refers to a mode inwhich the MFP is wirelessly connected to a wireless device by usingad-hoc communications, and the infrastructure mode refers to a mode inwhich the MFP is wirelessly connected to an AP of an infrastructurednetwork.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of a Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according to anotherexemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referringto FIG. 24, the CPU 830 of FIG. 8 may include the WLAN connectionmanagement unit 831 and the Wi-Fi Direct connection management unit 832.Operations of the elements will now be described in detail withreference to FIGS. 25 through 27.

FIGS. 25 through 27 are flowcharts illustrating a method of switchingoperation modes in a Wi-Fi Direct MFP, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referring to FIG.25, if a Wi-Fi Direct activation request is received from a user via theuser interface unit 850 in operation S2501, the WLAN connectionmanagement unit 831 determines in operation S2503 whether the MFPcurrently operates in an ad-hoc mode. If it is determined that the MFPcurrently operates in the ad-hoc mode, the WLAN connection managementunit 831 stops the ad-hoc mode and requests the Wi-Fi Direct connectionmanagement unit 832 to activate Wi-Fi Direct in operation S2505. TheWi-Fi Direct connection management unit 832 activates the Wi-Fi Directin operation S2507 according to the request. In this case, operationS2505 in which the WLAN connection management unit 831 stops the ad-hocmode is illustrated in FIG. 26 in detail. Referring to FIG. 26, the WLANconnection management unit 831 may change an operation mode of the MFPfrom the ad-hoc mode into an infrastructure mode in operation S2601. Inthis case, the ad-hoc mode may be only stopped without changing thead-hoc mode into the infrastructure mode. An SSID of the MFP set toperform the ad-hoc mode may be changed into null in operation S2603 inorder to stop the ad-hoc mode.

Referring to FIG. 27, if an ad-hoc mode performing request is receivedvia the user interface unit 850 in operation S2701, the WLAN connectionmanagement unit 831 determines in operation S2703 whether the Wi-FiDirect of the MFP is currently activated. If it is determined that theWi-Fi Direct of the MFP is currently activated, the WLAN connectionmanagement unit 831 requests the Wi-Fi Direct connection management unit832 to stop the Wi-Fi Direct operation. As such, if the Wi-Fi Directconnection management unit 832 stops the Wi-Fi Direct operation inoperation S2705, the WLAN connection management unit 831 performs thead-hoc mode in operation S2707.

A Wi-Fi Direct technology supports a concurrent connection function toallow an infrastructured network connection and a Wi-Fi Directconnection to be performed at the same time, but may not support anad-hoc mode and Wi-Fi Direct connection at the same time. In moredetail, an ad-hoc mode ensures compatibility between devices when IEEE802.11b is used, but Wi-Fi Direct does not support IEEE 802.11b.Accordingly, exemplary embodiments of the present general inventiveconcept address a method of selectively switching operation modes when aWi-Fi Direct mode performing request or an ad-hoc mode performingrequest is received while operating in the ad-hoc mode or the Wi-FiDirect mode.

As described above, if a response packet including an IP address of aP2P interface is transmitted to a wireless device P2P connected to animage forming apparatus, and an image forming operation is performedwhen an image forming operation performing request having the IP addressof the P2P interface as a destination is received from the wirelessdevice, the image forming apparatus may stably perform the image formingoperation requested by the P2P connected wireless device whileinfrastructured network connection and P2P connection are achieved atthe same time.

The present general inventive concept can also be embodied ascomputer-readable codes on a computer-readable medium. Thecomputer-readable medium can include a computer-readable recordingmedium and a computer-readable transmission medium. Thecomputer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that canstore data as a program which can be thereafter read by a computersystem. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium includeread-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetictapes, floppy disks, and optical data storage devices. Thecomputer-readable recording medium can also be distributed over networkcoupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code is storedand executed in a distributed fashion. The computer-readabletransmission medium can transmit carrier waves or signals (e.g., wiredor wireless data transmission through the Internet). Also, functionalprograms, codes, and code segments to accomplish the present generalinventive concept can be easily construed by programmers skilled in theart to which the present general inventive concept pertains.

Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept havebeen shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing fromthe principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope ofwhich is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of performing an image forming operationin an image forming apparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection,the method comprising: P2P connecting the image forming apparatus to anexternal wireless device while the image forming apparatus is wirelesslyconnected to an access point (AP) of an infrastructured network;receiving a discovery packet from the wireless device via a P2Pinterface; transmitting to the wireless device a response packetcomprising an Internet protocol (IP) address of the P2P interface;receiving from the wireless device an image forming operation performingrequest having the IP address of the P2P interface as a destination; andperforming the requested image forming operation.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the receiving of the discovery packet comprises receiving viathe P2P interface the discovery packet transmitted from the wirelessdevice by using a multicast or broadcast method.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the transmitting of the response packet comprisestransmitting the response packet further comprising information onservices providable by the image forming apparatus.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the P2P connection is Wi-Fi Direct connection, andwherein the P2P connecting of the image forming apparatus comprises P2Pconnecting the image forming apparatus to operate the image formingapparatus as a group owner (GO) and to operate the wireless device as aclient.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the discoverypacket is performed by using any one protocol from among bonjour,universal plug & play (UPNP), web server director (WSD), servicelocation protocol (SLP), and simple network management protocol (SNMP).6. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the image forming operation is aprint operation, the receiving of the image forming operation performingrequest comprises receiving from the wireless device print data havingthe IP address of the P2P interface as a destination, and wherein theperforming of the image forming operation comprises performing a printoperation according to the print data.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein, if the image forming operation is a scan operation, thereceiving of the image forming operation performing request comprisesreceiving from the wireless device a scan request having the IP addressof the P2P interface as a destination, and wherein the performing of theimage forming operation comprises scanning document and transmittingscan image data to the wireless device.
 8. A non-transitory computerreadable recording medium having recorded thereon computer-readablecodes to execute a method of performing an image forming operation in animage forming apparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection, themethod comprising: P2P connecting the image forming apparatus to anexternal wireless device while the image forming apparatus is wirelesslyconnected to an access point (AP) of an infrastructured network;receiving a discovery packet from the wireless device via a P2Pinterface; transmitting to the wireless device a response packetcomprising an Internet protocol (IP) address of the P2P interface;receiving from the wireless device an image forming operation performingrequest having the IP address of the P2P interface as a destination; andperforming the requested image forming operation.
 9. An image formingapparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection, the image formingapparatus comprising: a wireless local area network (WLAN) interfaceunit to wirelessly connect the image forming apparatus to aninfrastructured network and to P2P connect the image forming apparatusto an external wireless device; an Internet protocol (IP) addressmanagement unit to manage an IP address of a P2P interface and an IPaddress of an infrastructured network interface; a control unit toreceive an IP address from the IP address management unit and to controlperforming of an image forming operation requested by the wirelessdevice; and an image forming operation performing unit to perform therequested image forming operation under control of the control unit,wherein, if a discovery packet is received from the wireless device viathe P2P interface, the control unit generates and transmits a responsepacket comprising the IP address of the P2P interface to the wirelessdevice, and wherein, if an image forming operation performing request isreceived from the wireless device via the P2P interface, the controlunit controls the image forming operation performing unit to perform therequested image forming operation.
 10. The image forming apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein the WLAN interface unit receives via the P2P interfacethe discovery packet transmitted from the wireless device by using amulticast or broadcast method.
 11. The image forming apparatus of claim9, wherein the control unit generates the response packet to furthercomprise information on services providable by the image formingapparatus.
 12. The image forming apparatus of claim 9, wherein the P2Pconnection is Wi-Fi Direct connection, and wherein the WLAN interfaceunit P2P connects the image forming apparatus to operate the imageforming apparatus as a group owner (GO) and to operate the wirelessdevice as a client.
 13. The image forming apparatus of claim 9, whereinthe WLAN interface unit receives the discovery packet from the wirelessdevice by using any one protocol from among bonjour, universal plug &play (UPNP), web server director (WSD), service location protocol (SLP),and simple network management protocol (SNMP).
 14. The image formingapparatus of claim 9, wherein, if the image forming operation is a printoperation, the control unit controls the image forming operationperforming unit to perform a print operation according to the receivedprint data if print data having the IP address of the P2P interface as adestination is received from the wireless device.
 15. The image formingapparatus of claim 9, wherein, if the image forming operation is a scanoperation, the control unit controls the image forming operationperforming unit to scan document and transmits scan image data to thewireless device if a scan request having the IP address of the P2Pinterface as a destination is received from the wireless device.
 16. Animage forming apparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection, theimage forming apparatus comprising: a wireless local area network (WLAN)interface unit to concurrently establish an infrastructure networkconnection and a P2P connection with an external wireless device; acentral processing unit (CPU) to provide an Internet protocol (IP)address of a P2P interface corresponding to the P2P connection to theexternal wireless device in response to an image forming operationrequested by the external wireless device if the external wirelessdevice is P2P connected to the image forming apparatus; and an imageforming operation performing unit to perform the requested image formingoperation based on print data received from the external wireless deviceif the print data includes the IP address of the P2P interface.
 17. Theimage forming apparatus of claim 16, wherein the CPU comprises: an IPaddress management unit to manage the IP address of the P2P interfaceand an IP address of an infrastructured network interface correspondingto the infrastructure network connection; and a control unit to receivethe IP address of the P2P interface from the IP address management unitbased on the image forming operation requested by the external wirelessdevice and to control performance of the requested image formingoperation.
 18. The image forming apparatus of claim 16, wherein: the CPUsends a response packet including the IP address of the P2P interface inresponse to receiving a discovery packet from the external wirelessdevice, and the CPU controls the image forming operation performing unitto perform the requested image forming operation based on at least oneof a plurality of image forming operations provided in the responsepacket.
 19. The image forming apparatus of claim 18, wherein the atleast one of a plurality of image forming operations includes printing,copying, faxing, and scanning.
 20. The image forming apparatus of claim18, wherein the receipt of the discovery packet prompts the imageforming apparatus that the external wireless device is within P2Pconnection range and is requesting information regarding the pluralityof image forming operations provided by the image forming apparatus. 21.The image forming apparatus of claim 16, wherein the P2P connection is aWi-Fi Direct connection.
 22. An image forming apparatus supporting peerto peer (P2P) connection, the image forming apparatus comprising: awireless local area network (WLAN) interface unit to concurrentlyestablish a plurality of different wireless connections; a centralprocessing unit (CPU) to provide an Internet protocol (IP) addresscorresponding to one of the wireless connections to an external wirelessdevice if the external wireless device is connected to the image formingapparatus by one of the wireless connections; and an image formingoperation performing unit to perform the requested image formingoperation based on print data received from the external wireless deviceif the print data includes the IP address corresponding to the one ofthe wireless connections.
 23. The image forming apparatus of claim 22,wherein the plurality of different wireless connections includes aninfrastructure network connection and a P2P connection.
 24. The imageforming apparatus of claim 23, wherein the image forming apparatusestablishes the infrastructure network connection by at least one ofwirelessly connecting the image forming apparatus to an external accesspoint (AP) and determining the image forming apparatus to be an AP. 25.The image forming apparatus of claim 24, wherein the WLAN interface unitdetermines the image forming apparatus to be the AP by determining theimage forming apparatus to be a group owner (GO) from among a pluralityof Wi-Fi Direct connected external wireless devices.